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Monday, 13 June 2011

Stop the Poetry

You can spend our pensions on dinner with the Beckhamssack the police then ask them to work for freeto trick, lie and arrest teenagerswith shifty eyes and frustrated mindsmake us pay to have babies and glue back our bonespick the pockets of sixth formerspenalise the unmarried and patronise the women.I will stand on the tables in cafeson the grass of parksgive me a soap box or just a flagstone on a street corner.I’ll light the fuse of villanelleslook down the barrel of a sonnetblow Blake in the airchoke the monarchy in metaphor.My mother warned me about men like you;lie and charm and cheat and slime your way insidethen rip out the life support.Distract us with a Royal wedding‘look what your life could have beenif you hadn’t lacked a little inspiration.’You can crumble the foundationson which we’ve built our livesbut you will not stop the pens moving.You can’t stop me waking from dream filled sleepcollect the stained glass storiesfrom my leaking brain.Take away our pens and paperand we’ll just make the words move faster,louder in the corners of pubsI’ll prance along the bar until they listenclimb the walls of buildings;because if we keep telling the tales of the war you’re ragingon the unrich, the unprivate, the unmiddleagedthey won’t forget.Slap super injunctions on clause sixtytell us to calm downkettle us, keep us, beat us and berate usbut you won’t stop the poetry.

Alright Fran - don't rub it in. I tried to film Jess reading this a few weeks ago in Liverpool and pressed the wrong button on the camera (or rather the right button twice - which is wrong). But you're right - she's a great performer too!